Christmas, Consumerism and Climate Change

Hopefully everyone has had a great Christmas is now back to the business of earning a living. Without wishing to embrace the ‘bah humbug’ view towards the festive season, our environmental conscience does prick a little when we look at the impact this short lived, but rather excessive period has just in the UK. A few statistics from Recycle Now (a government sponsored organisation) might start to paint a picture of what we’re talking about…1 billion Christmas Cards

8 million Christmas Trees

750 million bottles

3000 tonnes of tin foil

83 million Km2of wrapping paper

Over the Christmas period we generate around 3 million tonnes of waste which is 1 tenth of our annual rubbish. Around 75% of all our rubbish currently goes to landfill, add to that 2 million tonnes of extra greenhouse gases produced through additional cooking, watching more TV and lighting up our homes, gardens, businesses and shops with Christmas lights and the impact is substantial (Institute of Science).

As scientists are now predicting that the planet will heat up by a minimum of 4oC by the year 2100, which is around double the level both our own and world governments consider to be dangerous, we need to take every action possible to reduce carbon emissions and the amount of rubbish going to landfill or being shipped to China for ‘recycling’.

An increase of 4oC is viewed as ‘catastrophic’ and could potentially see some or all of the Arctic and Greenland ice sheets gone for good. The subsequent rising sea levels could create flooding in areas of Southern India and Bangladesh which have some of the highest population densities in the world. Likewise other areas could be badly affected by changes to climate so significant as to render them uninhabitable.

So… as well as saving money on energy costs by making sure your home or business is energy efficient, make sure you RECYCLE, REUSE AND REPAIR. Despite our experiences of the recession, consumerism is alive and well – Christmas has just proved it.